Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-11-06

did not cost the enteTpr1slng doctor
more than ten to twelve cents. Al the
time tn raid was made the mail for that
day was stopped, and was found TO con-
sist OF. 342 dollar bills sent in answer to
the advertisement, Isixty-eight letters OF
abuse from victims VINO wanted their
money back, aLd-strangest Of all
twenty-five letters from persons who had
found themselves greatly benefited bY the
consumption cure nd awanted more. The
police broke up the establishment, know
irg perfectly well that It would only be
matter of few weeks before the "Doc-
tor" under some other name, and IL
another city, began his work again.
From recent Investigations | am led to
believe that we have in New York no less
t1an FIVE firms making business OF get
ng money upon false pretenses from
p .rsons foolish enough to believe the sb-
surd advertisements these swindlers get
into the smaller country papers. The
sRiudlers of this class may be divided as
follows: First, that in which you are in
vited to pc die some object which you buy
from the advertiser. Second, that in which
you buy process for Masking some COM
pound which you must afterward dispose
of either by peddliug it yourself or get
ting others to paddle it for you. Third,
that in which your are invited to do some
kind of work at starvation prices, or
which cannot be done at all. l take the
last Of these three classes first, because
there are no firms which do legitimate
business in this manner aud ere of real
help to poor people. For instance,
we will say fh1t the advertisement
reads: "It you want to make COM
Portable income at home, varying from
SIS to $50 a week, write to the Interna-
tioual photographic Art Company post
office box =, New York; no previous
knowledge Of the business required" l
nave answered dozens OF such cards, and
here is specimen OF the average an
swer:
"DEAR SIR-The business we adver-
tiee snd in which we need the services
Of many ladies snd gentlemen is the max
ing of beautiful picture which we call
the Autograph. I'VE send you certain
kind of picture on delicate, specially
prepared kind of paper. We require you
20 put it on cardboard and apply the col
ors as directed. You can do it after very
few days practice. We send you, when you
decide to undertake the work, book OF
instructions, for which we charge you
nothing, being DESTROYS to have you in
our employ, and box of paints and
brushes for which you pay less than cost
price-nemeIv, 81 80. No natural taste
or artistic training is needed for this
work; bear in mind that any one can do
it For every picture you send TO Us sat-
isfact0rily finished, We pay you 45 cents.
We send you st first five, which,
when finished, will net you 50 %,
ard sitter little practice you
can easily f1alsh the five in one days
work. We sell these pictures to can
vassers, and have never been able to get
enough OF them to supply the demand.
AS matter of form before sending you
the first five pictures we require you to
make deposit Of 81 as guarantee CT
good faith, and we cannot start sny one
IN the business who is not willing to
make this deposit.
"We feel sure that you will be able to
do this work well, snd that the money
earned will surprise you. State how you
prefer to be paddy the week or by the
! month, or whenever you send Us the tiG-
| ished pictures
| Address P0stc flee Box"
Together with this printed circular
comes paper supposed TO be e contract,
| in which the victim states his willingness
to do the work required and agrees to
devote so many hours day 10 if and do
! his best. He is supposed to sign this
and enclose it with 81 80 to the Arto-
graph Company. In return will come five
little pictures on tissue paper, and some
cardboard upon which TO mount the
pictures, and little box Of chesp paints
ard brushes, the whole outfit worth per
| hsps so cents at retail figures. This
| is the comedy part Of the performance
The tragedy part begins when the untOr-
tunate victim attempts TO do the simple
work which requires "no artistic skill CT
previous knowledge Of the business AS
| q matter Ct fact | believe that the work is
made purposely impossible; when an at
! tempt is made to paste or mountthe tissue
paper picture upon the cardboard it seems
to dissolve, and the victim regards it with
mingled establishment and indignation.
No matter how much care is given Or how
| delicEtely it is done-and even experts
have tried their hand at 1.-THE result is
an awful botch, which the Autograph
Company would be perfectly justified in
refusing as not up to the high standard
required by their patrons. OF course the
upshot OF the business is that the
victim loses his faith in human nature,
his $3.50 and good many hours' work.
! It will pc noted that in the letter sent
by the swindlers they say "the money
earned will surprise you" The victim
earns nothing and it does surprise him.
believe that there are few concerns
who sometimes do pay for mounting and
coloring cheap photographs, but the work
| is paid at just about the rates Of the shop
into which found my way this morning
namely, about 9 cents a picture. Oh
course, IS this work can be done by little
girls, who are paid 50 week to sit in the
shop and color such prints from morn
ing till night, it pays the outsider still
less to do it: The police cannot interfere
unless complaints are made, and as the
victims are mostly at long distance
from the swindler and are people OF very
small means and intellie ence, there is lit
tie chance of punishme Mt. So far as
know, no answer is made to the indignant
protests Of the victims.
In other classes of advertisements,
when the advertiser is not 8 sWindler
there may be men and women who will
make the large amount OF money prom
Used, but they will be in the proportion to
the number of attempts as one in 1000,
900. OF the first two classes mentioped-
that in which the advertiser sells an article
to be peddled, and that in which the ped
| dler is eypecfed IN r1ska hja own stock in